Apache POI export to excel in web browser

Question

I want to export the excel file in browser and download the file in browser download location (same as any download that happens in a browser). I'm using following servlet for export the file and it does not shows the downloading or it does not download to the browser default download location. But file has exported to project location.

protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request,
        HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub
    // PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();

    response.setContentType("application/vnd.ms-excel");
    response.setHeader("Content-Disposition",
            "attachment; filename=filename.xls");
    try {
        // ExportClass export = new ExportClass();
        // export.export();

        XSSFWorkbook workbook = new XSSFWorkbook();
        // Create a blank sheet
        XSSFSheet spreadsheet = workbook.createSheet(" Employee Info ");
        // Create row object
        XSSFRow row = spreadsheet.createRow(1);
        XSSFCell cell;
        cell = row.createCell(1);
        cell.setCellValue("AGE");
        cell = row.createCell(2);
        cell.setCellValue("ID");
        cell = row.createCell(3);
        cell.setCellValue("NAME");

        int i = 2;
        DbCon db = new DbCon();
        ArrayList<Student> students = db.getStudentList();

        for (int x = 0; x < students.size(); x++) {

            row = spreadsheet.createRow(i);
            cell = row.createCell(1);
            cell.setCellValue(students.get(x).studentAge);
            cell = row.createCell(2);
            cell.setCellValue(students.get(x).studentID);
            cell = row.createCell(3);
            cell.setCellValue(students.get(x).stuntName);
            i++;
        }

        // Write the workbook in file system

        OutputStream out = response.getOutputStream();
        System.out.println("going to export");
        workbook.write(out);
        out.close();
        System.out.println("exceldatabase.xlsx written successfully");

    }

Please help me to figure out the issue. Thanks.

do the code even get called? Funny that you are doing a POST to GET a file — Scary Wombat, Sep 28 '16 at 06:24
also why are you using POI to stream your file, just use a normal FileInputStream — Scary Wombat, Sep 28 '16 at 06:25
I suspect you need to set the content length. `response.setContentLength(???)`. To get the size of the workbook for this, see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/28122474/apache-poi-get-size-of-generated-excel-file. But I would use `response.setContentLength` instead of `response.setHeader("Content-Length", ...)`. — Axel Richter, Sep 28 '16 at 09:50

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 10 '22 at 22:29

You can use ByteArrayOutputStream to export your excel file

  // Write the workbook in file system

    response.setContentType("application/octet-stream");

    response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=exceldatabase.xlsx");



    ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
    workbook.write(out);
    ByteArrayInputStream stream = new 
    ByteArrayInputStream(out.toByteArray());
    IOUtils.copy(stream, response.getOutputStream());

Apache POI export to excel in web browser

1 Answers1